Where will they go?

We need answers when red tape puts veterans and children out on the street

October 23, 2013

A lot of people are being put out of doors on the Peninsula these days. Good, hard-working people – often military veterans and families with young children – whose only crime is not having enough money to afford a standard housing arrangement.

Newport News and Hampton have established new regulations that prohibit anyone from living in a hotel room for more than 30 days in any 60-day period. Hampton is considering an inspection program that will target inexpensive rental units. These measures – at least as they are described by the city leaders implementing them – are aimed at increasing property values and decreasing crime.

But they have the unfortunate side effect of sending an implicit message to lower-income residents: We don't know where you're going to live, but you can't live here.

The latest victims are the military veterans who had been living at the VA Medical Center as part of the Salvation Army Transitional Housing Program. That 100-year-old facility was closed this year because it needed $3.5 million in repairs and renovation, and earlier this month the Hampton City Council shot down a plan to relocate the program to an extended-stay hotel.

That program – which helped more than 2,000 veterans in the 12 years it was at the VA Hospital – would violate a city ordinance that prohibits anyone from effectively using a hotel room as an apartment. A Salvation Army officer said that if a new location isn't established soon, "the program will cease to exist."

This is unacceptable. The Hampton ordinance allows for certain exceptions to the extended-stay rule, but the City Council voted unanimously to deny a permit for a program that provides temporary transitional housing for veterans who would otherwise be homeless. This despite the fact that the program is run by the Salvation Army, one of the most established and respected charitable organizations in the country.

The federally funded program would not be using the hotel as a makeshift flophouse. It assists up to 60 veterans at a time, providing them with temporary housing but also helping them find work and manage a budget until they can find more permanent homes. In an area that takes such great pride in our connection to the military, this program is especially vital – and it is suddenly on the verge of extinction because city officials insist on strict adherence to their own new rule at the expense of homeless veterans.

Earlier this year, a series of stories in the Daily Press examined the lives of lower-income families living out of hotel rooms in Newport News. That city reports almost 200 public school students who live in hotel rooms. All of those families now face the possibility of homelessness when Newport News' extended-stay regulation goes into effect in January.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday night the Hampton City Council was expected to vote on a program that would mandate regular city inspections for code violations of rental units. The program would target eight specific neighborhoods, leading some to speculate that the city is focusing on lower-income residents.

City officials defend these regulations as attempts to prevent the dereliction of hotels and apartments. They say the rules are designed to keep property values up, and to prevent landlords from allowing their units to become dangerous and unsanitary.

Even if we take those goals at face value – if we assume the city administrations are not simply trying to get rid of poor people – it is clear that something needs to be done to address the collateral damage. Many of the residents being hurt by these ordinances have done nothing wrong. They represent vulnerable demographic groups who need help, not red tape. Most notably, we are talking about families on the margin of poverty, and veterans who have made sacrifices to serve our country but who are now homeless.

If these regulations regarding home inspections and extended-stay hotels are truly necessary, then surely there is a more compassionate way to implement them. There has to be a way to target criminal activity and code violations without putting vulnerable people – including veterans and school children – out of doors.

At some point, we have to ask the question, "Where are these people going to go?" If there isn't an adequate answer, then we need to re-assess these regulations and how they are enforced.